Game Review: Wii Sports Resort

Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

Wii Sports Resort

For: Nintendo Wii

From: Nintendo

ESRB Rating: Everyone (cartoon violence)

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Nintendo was perhaps more lucky than good with "Wii Sports," a terrifically fun compilation of games that made the Wii remote look considerably more versatile than it actually was.

With "Wii Sports Resort" - and particularly, thanks to the Wii MotionPlus attachment that's bundled inside - that illusion is now for real. The MotionPlus attachment allows the Wii remote to mimic real-time motion in ways the remote cannot do on its own, and "Resort" takes full advantage en route to establishing itself as a superior sequel.

Structurally, "Resort" feels a lot like the original "Sports." Each of the 12 available sports (up from five) features a handful of modes built around the sport, and each mode offers a single-player mode with scalable difficulty, two- or four-player local multiplayer or (in most cases) both. Online play, once again, is a no-show.

The incremental differences are no surprise, because "Resort" exists primarily to make the MotionPlus' introduction a smooth one.

That, happily, is where the game shines. Bowling returns almost structurally unchanged from "Sports," but the added control flexibility makes it easier to add spin and pick up trickier spares. Tennis, now reborn as Table Tennis, also benefits immensely by giving you more control over not just the trajectory of your shot, but the angle with which you hold your paddle. (Golf, unfortunately, still suffers from the excessive sensitivity that hampered it in its original incarnation.)

The new events hit more than miss as well. The Frisbee events, which include Frolf and a Frisbee Dog contest, replicate the sensation of tossing a Frisbee shockingly well, taking into account both your toss and how you hold the disc while doing so. Archery, which employs the Nunchuck attachment, never quite feels realistic, but it nevertheless incorporates the motions and the science of archery to surprisingly good effect. Basketball's Pickup Game mode is a bit weird - you can't control your player's on-court movements - but the 3-Point Contest is great because of how well the remote replicates the artistry of a perfect jump shot. Even the Canoeing event shines due to how responsive and flexible the paddling feels.

But it's the Swordplay events, which allow you to wield a Nerf-style sword with remarkable freedom of motion, that headline this endeavor. The freedom is such that you can even turn the Wii remote around and bonk opposing swordfighters with the butt of your sword, and the range of events - from one-on-one battles to a surprisingly lengthy single-player adventure game in which you take down waves of enemies like a wannabe Jedi - allow you ample opportunity to take full advantage.

Doing so much right makes "Resort's" lowlights entirely forgivable. Cycling and Power Cruising, in particular, feel gimmicky and unnatural to the point of unwieldy. The Air Sports (flying, skydiving) and Wakeboarding events fare better, but their simplicity positions them as occasional diversions rather than heavy rotation material.

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